The difference in lighting between portions of a scene to be photographed is a factor that affects exposure. For example, a scene such as a sunset at a beach can have a significant difference in lighting between the sky in the background and the beach in the foreground. Often, the bright sun can “wash out” and cause a loss of detail of various objects in a photograph of the scene, such as clouds in the sky. This is due to the fact that an overly-bright portion of the scene, when compared to a more darkly lit portion of the scene, can exceed the dynamic range of a camera's sensor or film. As a result, when the scene is captured in a photograph detail may be lost.
Photographers often use graduated neutral density (GND) filters to adjust the overly-bright portion of scenes to be within the dynamic range of their film or sensor. For example, a GND filter can be physically placed on the lens of the camera. The GND filter can have a region that can darken the portion of the scene in the field of view of the camera lens such that the scene can be within the dynamic range of the camera, and therefore, the photograph of the scene with a proper exposure can be captured. Accordingly, visual details that were previously washed out may be visible in the photograph. However, because the characteristics of a physical GND filter are typically fixed, they may not be useful for many applications or devices.